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Nina (Breath of Fire II)
Nina is a character within Breath of Fire II. She is the princess of Windia and a member of the Fae Tribe. Biography Nina is a young woman of the royal Fae tribe. Unlike her fellow tribe members, she has black wings. Contrary to many of her other incarnations, the Nina in this story is a shy, polite, and reserved young lady; because of this, she is easier to reason with compared to Katt in situations involving one of the two ladies. She is one of the love interests for Ryu. Nina's inferiority complex may have possibly stemmed from her troubled past. As the story progresses, she is shown to be torn between having the desire to be noticed and having fear of rejection and humiliation. This slowly changes as her relationship grows with Ryu. Towards the end of the story, because of Ryu (along with Mina's actions later on), Nina becomes more confident in herself and no longer wishes to disappear. Nina is a sorceress who casts offensive magic. She does not wield swords like Nina from Breath of Fire I. She uses rings and channels magical powers in the form of an energy blast when chosen to attack instead of casting magic. She learns the most spells of any character and has a few support spells in her arsenal. Because magic is her strength, Nina possesses high AP. Her special battle command is "Will" which restores a small amount of AP when used. Her weaknesses lies in that she has low HP, attack power, and defense. It is ideal to keep her in the back of battle formations where she is safest from physical attacks. Unlike flying enemies, Nina's actual flying in battle does not protect her from earth magic such as 8.0. Nina has two field abilities. Her first involves using her wings to avoid certain pitfalls if she is leading the party. Her second ability comes after acquiring the Great Bird; she is the only one capable of summoning the bird for flight on the world map. Nina can combine with Shamans to alter her appearance in two ways. One alternate is a palette swap, giving her more green and pink hues while boosting her stats. Her second transformation is more dramatic, changing her into an even more beautiful angelic character (looking very much like a queen), boosting her stats, and providing a new special battle command: Banish. Banish makes foes flee immediately, resulting in ending the battle. This obviously does not work against bosses, and will not yield any experience for the party. In areas where encounter rates are high, Banish is a good way to save the party's strength while making way to the destination. Nina attends the Magic Academy in Hometown, where she is oftenly harrassed by members of the Joker Gang. When Ryu visits the Magic Academy, he meets Nina for the first time, but their meeting is cut short when they learn that her sister Mina has been taken captive by the Joker Gang. A gang member suddenly shows up into the academy, and manages to blackmail Nina into leaving with him to the gang's hideout to negotiate for Mina's release. Katt insists on helping Nina and drags Ryu with her to Nina's aid. Turns out that the gang's leader Joker intends for Nina to become his slave in exchange for Mina's freedom; this provokes Katt and further fuels her desire to help the sisters. As Katt causes a distraction and frees Mina, Joker's lackeys swarm her. Ryu rushes to her aid, while Nina takes the opportunity to use her magic and bury Joker under a pile of rocks. Joker suddenly emerges from the pile of rumble as a grotesque demon and tries to kill Nina, but fails. The combined might of Ryu, Nina, and Katt proved too much for the monster. Nina thanks the duo for helping her. Katt suggests that they accompany her on the trip to bring Mina home, to which Nina gladly agrees. Ryu, Nina, and Katt escorts Mina back to Windia. However, when they arrive at the castle, Nina is treated as a stranger. Mina is confused as to why nobody recognizes her older sister. Such treatment didn't seem to phase Nina, causing more confusion and shock among her party members and sister. The truth to this event isn't revealed until further into the game when the party seeks the ability of flight to infiltrate the head church of St Eva. Later on, Nina crosses paths with her parents and the Windia citizens again when Rand's mother Daisy is kidnapped by followers of St. Eva. Daisy is taken to Evrai which is accessible only by flight. Realizing the dire situation the party is in, Nina becomes greatly disturbed. Katt informs Ryu that something is bothering Nina and that he should talk to her. Ryu approaches Nina in her room at Township to find out what's on her mind. She tells Ryu that there is a way for them to reach Evrai; to do so, she must gain the power of the Great Bird. However, she stops herself before she could explain to Ryu about the drawbacks of gaining such a power. Unaware of what could happen to her, Ryu brings her to Windia. After reuniting with her parents, Nina learns that they do in fact love and miss her. The reasoning for her exile was explained by her mother during this moment. Since she was born with black wings, it is believed that she would bring doom to her people. The only way to avoid this curse was to kill the child. However, the King and Queen could not bring themselves to do such a thing. Instead, they chose to exile Nina for her own protection while telling their kingdom that she died. Her mother states that they live in regret everyday knowing that they had to banish their first born daughter. The Queen then tells Nina that the King has also fallen gravely ill and wishes to see her. When she goes to visit her father in his room, she learns that he has been living in grief since the day he sent her away from the kingdom. After a short flashback of Nina's childhood, the King asks his daughter if she hates him for doing what he did, to which Nina replies she does not. She then asks for permission to gain access to retrieving the powers of the Great Bird. At first, the King was hesitant to put his daughter through such risks. His Windian physician warns that in exchange for using such a power, comes a heavy sacrifice by the user. After seeing his daughter's determination, he agrees to let her take the trial to gain the power of the Great Bird. It is from here on that he truly realizes the absurdity of the legend behind the black wings. When the negative effects of becoming the Great Bird are revealed to the party, they're met with disbelief and shock. If Nina is to become the Great Bird, she would lose everything about her including her memories. To make matters worse, the transformation is irreversible. In other words, the consequences are equal to giving up her life. This does not falter Nina's determination to proceed with her decision however. When in the presence of others (at Township), she shows no discontent for the grief of her friends. If Ryu approaches her in front of the group, she tells him to save his sorrows for this is the best way for her to lend a hand in helping not only her friends and those she care about, but also the world. Nina's lack of sympathy is clearly a way for her to appear strong in front of others. If she is approached in her room by Ryu, she attempts to put on another facade by telling him that becoming the Great Bird does not bother her one bit. However, she also asks him to say that he wants her to become the Great Bird. If Ryu agrees to do so, she shows hesitation before agreeing with him. If he refuses to say what she requests, she hesitates briefly, then apologizes for asking him to say such a thing. This is one of the rare moments providing a hint of Nina wanting to know if he is willing to lose her. Back at Windia, Nina undergoes the trial to gain the powers of the Great Bird. During the end of the trial, she encounters the guardian of the mark. After the guardian is defeated, its armor disappears revealing it to be Nina from Breath of Fire I. Nina1 explains that it was because of her that the Fae tribe lost its inherent power to become the Great Bird; she goes on to explain that she fell in love with a man who was not of the Fae tribe, thus causing the unique powers of the clan to weaken. Because of the events in Breath of Fire I, it is implied that the man Nina1 fell in love with was Ryu1. Before flying away, Nina1 asks her descendant if she can forgive her for her actions. If Nina chooses to forgive her ancestor, her ancestor thanks her as she flies away. If Nina chooses not to forgive Nina1, her ancestor will apologize before leaving the area. After the trial, Nina visits her father again to bear him the news of her success. The king asks his daughter about what fuels her desire to sacrifice herself without fear. Nina responds in saying that she wishes to not only protect his kingdom, but also the world. Seeing that his little girl has grown into a fine woman, the king gives her his blessing to carry on with her decision. He asks for her to never forget him even when she is the Great Bird. After the two exchange farewells, the king's physician escorts Nina and her companions to their resting chamber. Some time during this point, Mina learns of her older sister's tragic past and forcefully opts to take her place in becoming the Great Bird. While the party rests in the castle for the night, Mina sneaks into their room and steals the Mark of the Wing. Nina awakes shortly after and searches the drawers that held the mark, only to find it missing. She has a feeling that Mina took it, and wanders the castle searching for her. Upon stumbling into her sister, Mina immediately runs away. This results in Nina chasing after her sister to try and recover the mark. The chase ends after Mina makes way and locks herself in the ceremonial tower where the sacrifice is to take place. Inside the ceremonial tower, Mina confesses that she was kept in the shadows about the suffering of her sister and parents. Mina goes on to say that she would have never known the reason for their suffering had Nina not seek to become the Great Bird. Realizing her little sister's intentions, this incites Nina to try and break open the door. Despite her older sister's pleas for Mina to not throw her life away, Mina refuses to abandon her decision in becoming the Great Bird. Before she begins the transformation process, Mina says that she isn't strong enough to defeat the evil plaguing their world, but she knows that Nina is capable of doing so. Nina becomes desperate to stop her sister as she repeatedly strikes the locked door, but fails to break into the room before Mina could complete the transformation. After Mina becomes the Great Bird, Nina vows to continue fighting to honor her sister's sacrifice. As a love interest for Ryu, she is completely opposite to Katt (Rinpoo). Because of her shy and reserved nature, it can be difficult to know how she really feels about him. Unlike the boisterous Katt, Nina tends to keep to herself more often. There are some moments when Nina shows feelings or signs indicating that she is interested in Ryu. One such moment is when she displays signs of jealousy because Ryu seems to be giving more attention to Deis for the time being. To add more to this fire, some of the party members, including Ryu, seems to marvel at the beauty and power of Deis. During this time, if she is approached in her room by Ryu, she will tell him that she intends to study hard to become better than Deis. In addition, she pleas for Ryu to not leave her. In the light of all this, her trust in Ryu is deep. He is the only one she will reveal personal feelings to about situations; Katt obviously knows this. An example of this is shown when she wouldn't talk to the other party members except for Ryu about what was troubling her. Even Katt was kept out of the light, but knew that Nina would open up to Ryu. Nina also seems to be the only party member to almost immediately recognize that Ryu and Patty share particular characteristics. This further provides more evidence that Patty is Yua, which makes Ryu her older brother. Nina's ability to quickly notice similarities between Ryu and Patty also gives hint that she may be paying closer attention to Ryu compared to the other party members. The strange thing about this situation is that even Bosch, who spent most of his childhood with Ryu, did not notice any similarities between Ryu and Patty. During the game's climax when Ryu is tasked with deciding who to choose as a sacrifice to obtain Anfini, Nina reveals to Ryu that she wants to entwine her destiny to him. In addition, she mentions that she admires him. This is another sign that Nina is trying to show Ryu that she is interested in him, but her fear of rejection keeps her from saying the obvious. She is willing to die for Ryu's sake out of her deep admiration and love for him. In two of the endings, it is further revealed that Nina has strong feelings for Ryu. In one of the endings, if she is the one to wander back looking for him, she will become extremely emotional almost immediately upon seeing that Ryu sacrificed himself; this results in her confessing to the sleeping Ryu that he is the most important person in her life (next to Mina). In addition, Nina also says that she is unwilling to let go of what she feels for him even if he intends to force her in doing so; causing her to plea for Ryu to respond to her. Nina's behavior here contradicts her usual reserved and distant personality. Even Mina's sacrifice did not cause her to delve this deep into her emotions, for she was able to contain her sorrows for Mina in front of the party. In the ending involving Ryu's father Ganer, as Ryu attempts to become the next guardian for the demon gate, Nina openly confesses that she can't stand to lose another person who is very important to her. Unfortunately, Capcom left the relationship between Nina and Ryu as equivocal, leaving much to be desired between the two. Gallery File:NinaFire2.jpg File:Nina BoF2 Trans.jpg|Nina when fused with Seny and Spoo File:Bfa6926e2273f3ad5c31f3009b04a2d4.png|Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Nina Card Shaman Fused Nina.jpg|Shaman Infused Angelic Nina nina2awallpaper.jpg|Nina In Breath of Fire 2 Gameboy Advance version See Also }} Category:Characters Category:Breath of Fire II Characters Category:Wing Clan Category:Protagonist Category:Playable Characters Category:Breath of Fire II